Site map
| Quality 19 March 2004 (inaugural meeting) |
Minutes of the inaugural meeting held on 19 March 2004Present: Maureen Wade (LSE) (Chair); Wendy Fish (Wellcome); Peter Godwin (London South Bank); Antony Loveland (ULL); Leonie Reynolds (Customs & Excise for Claire McManus); Elaine Salter (Westminster) Apologies:Angus Brown Kings College); Claire McManus; Janet Percival (University College); Sue Price (Courtauld Institute) Minute-taker: Elaine Salter 1. WelcomeMaureen welcomed everyone to the first meeting of the group. 2. Membership and Terms of ReferenceThe terms of reference have been agreed by the M25 Consortium's steering group. It was agreed that the responsibility for minute-taking would be done on a rota basis, excluding Maureen as the Chair. It was agreed to plan for four meetings per year, with a minimum of three. Maureen undertook to set up a JISC mailing list for the group. Action: Maureen 3. IntroductionsEach person present gave a brief outline of current quality practices, projects, issues and concerns at their respective libraries. Wellcome: Wendy reported on a consultant's report on bench-marking. An annual survey was run last year with a disappointing response. Westminster: Elaine reported on service level definitions (SLDs) and their monitoring, annual surveys, reports to University academic standards groups, annual book availability surveys and a recent mystery shopping project. Westminster are participating in LibQual this year. LSE: Maureen reported on annual student surveys and biennial staff surveys. Book availability surveys have been done annually since 1996/7. These have shown high success rates, except last year when it decreased significantly. An investigation showed that a large number of books from the course collection were missing. SLDs are in place and are monitored. There is a complaints procedure in place, including a suggestions box, both in print and on the web. Focus groups are also organised. Attendance on these was low until the library offered generous print/copy credits which proved very popular. Customs & Excise: Leonie reported that Claire McManus has recently been appointed as the new manager and is interested in establishing SLDs. There was a library staff satisfaction survey last year but the results have not yet been published. A user survey was held a few years ago. London South Bank: Peter reported that SLDs are in place. Peter warned of the danger in spending excessive time in monitoring to the detriment of the service itself. An annual user survey has been running for many years and the questions have remained consistent to allow comparison over the years. LibQual was run last year and will be used this year again. The results from last year were very similar to those of the in-house surveys. They are trying to use the first 10 minutes of lecture time to ask students questions about the library. Course boards are attended conscientiously. ULL: Antony reported that ULL is good at measuring processes and inputs but poor at measuring user satisfaction. This is mainly because they have a disparate set of users spread throughout the University of London and political issues due to the library's separate status from the colleges. LibQual was used last year with a poor response rate. Priority Search was used once in the past. They have reader suggestion forms. 4. Priorities and Draft Action PlanThe group decided the following priorities:
5. The Next MeetingAt the next meeting we will focus on the consultant's report on the Wellcome Institute Library (which Wendy will email to the group), mystery shopping (on which subject Elaine will produce a report) and progress with the survey of current practice. Action: Wendy and Elaine 6. Date of the Next MeetingIn June, exact date to be decided by email. Further dates will also be set in advance. Meeting ended. ES |
